The one and only thing I use salt on prior to cooking is when I've scored the skin on a joint of pork I then rub it with salt to get crispy crackling. If I want salt on a meal I add some when it's on my plate, I never ever add salt to cooking water cos it toughens the skin on peas and raw beans prior to cooking and they take much longer to cook than they should.

Over the past few years I have read a ton of studies specifically related to diet and type 2 diabetes.

I don't remember any "human" diabetic/salt studies but remember reading a couple where they tested it on rats. They fed one group ungodly amounts of salt and the others a no salt diet.

There was no difference/effect on blood glucose but the rats that got all the salt gained weight and had high blood pressure with all else being equal.

Ok, it was rats and that doesn't always translate to humans, but it may be telling.

So while salt does not appear to effect BG levels, since being diabetic already "pre-disposes" us to heart disease and stroke (85% of Type 2's die from one or the other), any substance that increases blood pressure and weight is like playing russian roulette.

We all eat too much salt even if we are concious of eating "reduced salt/no salt added" foods. Salt is cheap, helps preserve and flavour food so it's everywhere.

Depending what country you live in the recommended daily allowance for sodium is 2000 to 2500 mg's. And while I'm pretty vigilant about following a diabetes friendly diet, I find it pretty tough to get my daily sodium intake much below about 3000 mg's.

Products that are "altered" from their typical recipe (reduced carbs, reduced fat and particularly gluten free) are "loaded" with salt to make the products pallatable. So always a trade off.

So maybe "blood safe", but if you have hypertension already, staying away from the stuff, as much as possible, is probably in your best interest.

Well from what I do know, if you ingest a lot of salt 2 things will happen 1) you will get thirsty and probably drink more fluids, 2) you may retain fluids, so considering sugar levels go down when enough fluids are onboard, I would guess it would rather bring your sugar levels down. Unless the drinks you take have Carbs or sugar now this might be the culprit. Sometimes even some diet drinks with some diabetic are affected by some of the artificial sweeteners and their sugar levels still spike despite being called sugar free. I discovered some bars I was eating in the past that were suppose to be safe for diabetics raised my sugar even more, so I stopped eating those and found other supplements to eat that do not increase my sugar levels.

When people are dehydrated we give them IV NS solution which basically is Normal Saline solution so salt makes people retain fluids. I could be wrong, maybe others can answer better about this then I can. I am a retired nurse so I am going by what I have witnessed, but as for diabetes I knew nothing 1 year ago when I was diagnosed myself. So I am still learning through people in here also.

Also too much salt can cause high blood pressure and in return cause vascular issues, heart disease and kidney issues, so if this affects diabetes indirectly I am not aware of it. But some diabetics do have kidney issues.

Thanks!

Thanks so much!